You came back
by BondSlave
Summary: Tifa stood frozen palms placed firmly against the glass. She could feel her heart beating hard against her ribcage, and she could hear her breath being taken away as her lips parted in disbeleif. "No." How could victory b snatched away so easily? CLOTI


**Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy seven or any related characters, places or themes.**

**A/N: Upon reading the summary for this one-shot LatteJazz insisted that I type it up and post it immediately. **

YOU CAME BACK

*

The cries and gasps of disbelief echoed throughout the Shera, all passengers taking several steps closer towards the large viewing dock as disbelief began to sink in. Airy strings of curses escaped the captains mouth as his unsteady hands caused the flying airship to weave to the left slightly, and little glowing round balls of materia rolled this way and that way amongst their shoes as Yuffie clasped her hands over her mouth in despair.

Tifa stood frozen, palms placed firmly against the glass. She could feel her heart beating hard against her ribcage, and she could hear her breath being taken away as her lips parted in disbelief. _"No."_

How could victory be so easily snatched away from them? How could _he _be so easily snatched away from her?

Suddenly the world caught up to her and she blinked, pearly tears escaping her brown eyes as she weaved slightly turning to look over her shoulder towards the others who also were being tossed about as the cursing captain attempted to regain control of the airship, which had been sent of kilter due to the aftershock of the explosion that had happened below. Tifa braced herself as Yuffie bumped into her.

"Cid land this damn thing!" Barret yelled.

"Shudup!" The blond captain snapped back in reply as he grabbed the wheel and turned it. "We gotta get the **** outta here."

Tifa turned and looked back out the window, biting her lip in despair and disbelief as Cid turned the Shera away from the Shinra building and back towards the slums.

*

Tifa slid down the latter her hair blowing about her face as she landed on the hard earth, a cloud of dust forming about her ankles as she straightened up. She looked back up towards the Shera which hovered high above them in its own version of a 'parked' flying vehicle. She averted her gaze as a hand was placed on her shoulder, meeting the crimson gaze of her companion Vincent Valentine. No words were said, non were needed. She felt her lips tremble slightly, her gaze wavering as she looked away. He squeezed her shoulder. "Let's go Tifa." He said just loud enough for her to hear over the constant hum of the Shera which hovered above head. She didn't move for a moment before nodding, and allowing herself to be steered by her friend.

Only once she decided to look up and see where he was leading her did she noticed that they were following their companions towards the crumbling church. She inhaled through her mouth and sighed shakily. Her mind had gone into shock. _'I can't believe Cloud is gone. What will I tell Denzel and Marlene? What's going to happen to us all now?' _

*

Tifa paused outside of the church, receiving a weary glanced from Vincent before he left her to her own devices, he could not offer her the comfort she really needed. She stood outside of the church, wrapping her dust and dirt covered arms about herself in an attempt to relax her nerves. She looked around at the ruins of the slums, half expecting to see Freneir parked outside of the church as it was on so many previous occasions. She half expected to see him if she were to look into the church, see him standing or kneeling near the flowers that bloomed only there. Several more pearly tears fell from her red and swollen eyes. She inhaled once again and wiped away the tears. That was that, he was gone. She stood up straighter and began dusting herself off. She had to accept it, otherwise how would she ever be able to help the children through this horrible news? She sniffed, attempting to compose herself before turning towards the church and approaching.

She entered over the splintered and broken wooden door, walked past the broken pews and columns and approached her friends who were all gathered near the…_flowers? _She took several quick steps and frowned. The entire party looked at her, all sharing her frown or confused looks of their own. She shook her head. "B-but how did this happen?" She breathed quietly, gazing down into the crystal clear, sparkling water that had replaced the flowers. She saw her own dancing reflection upon the water which glittered and glowed with the rays of the sun, yellow and white flower petals dancing upon the surface. "W-where did the flowers go?"

"Tifa!"

Tifa blinked and turned around, her eyes growing wide as Denzel and Marlene approached at a run, Denzel holding Marlene's hand in his own as they trotted up, followed by several more children and adults. Marlene broke free of Denzel and ran to her adopted father who picked her up and hugged her. Tifa stooped as Denzel stopped in front of her. "Is he here?" Denzel asked smiling slightly, his breathing labored slightly Tifa blinked, her lips parting slightly in confusion and confliction. She so desperately wanted to shake her head but she couldn't even bring herself to do that as she gazed at the hopeful youth, which was Denzel. She looked back up, the church had filled considerably with children and adults.

"Look."

Tifa blinked and stood up straighter, her gaze turning to Marlene who had jumped from her father's arms and was clinging to Cait Sith and pointing towards the water. She followed the little girls finger. Several other children had climbed into the water and were making their way towards the center of the pool which had been created. Her eyes widened.

A green and blue mass of light had begun to swirl and twist amongst the water. It twisted and swirled in pleasant arches and waves as it began to take on form, growing in size and shape within seconds.

Her lips parted as the light brightened and then dulled. The children gently took hold of the figure who floated in the water, preventing his body from sinking beneath the surface. She felt her breath taken from her lungs once again. She felt a small hand grab onto hers. She blinked and looked down to see Denzel smiling up at her. She looked disbelievingly at him before turning her gaze back towards the pool. _'Cloud.' _

He had awoken and had stood up, water glistening upon his skin and hair as little pearl like beads rolled across his skin and dampened his clothes. He looked around a look of curious confusion showing upon his face till his blue gaze fell upon a little girl standing in front of him.

"It's like she said." The girl spoke. "Wait here and Cloud will come back."

Tifa's lips parted in surprise. _'She? Did she?' _

Cloud seemed to contemplate the little girls words for just a moment before he nodded.

"I'm back."

*

Tifa sat upon the edge of the pool, several drops of water dampening her skin her hand placed over her lips as she repressed laughter at the expense of a very unhappy and very wet Vincent Valentine, who looked as if he were going to drown the blond captain who had pulled him into the pool of water along with the playing and splashing children. She blinked in surprise as laughter erupted from beside her. She glanced over in surprise to see a sight she hadn't seen since she was a child. Cloud was holding his stomach as a fit of uncontrollable laughter erupted from his lungs. His eyes were tightly closed as tears sparkled at the corners of his eyes. "THAT'S A GOOD LOOK FOR YOU VINCENT!" He cheered, receiving a glare from the gunslinger. Tifa blinked, her surprise melting away slowly. She hadn't seen Cloud smile in a very long time, let alone hear him laugh. It was a beautiful, loud and full of joyful mirth. The pure joy and life that came from the laughter radiated from him, causing his skin to almost glow along with his eyes as his laughter slowly began to subside, sounding like the echoing tinging of church bells.

A content sigh escaped him before he blinked, noticing Tifa's gaze. "Hmn?" He looked over at her. "Are you okay?" He questioned, concern lacing his voice no doubt due to the sight of tears sparkling in her brown eyes. She started slightly and quickly wiped away the tears nodding.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She said before inching closer.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I am now."

"Hmn? Now?"

She nodded.

"Now that it's al over. No more monsters, no more remnants, no more Sephiroth." She looked closely at him. "Just us."

She could see a slight blush creeping up his neck. Both were momentarily distracted by a sopping wet Denzel who had moseyed over and asked if Cloud were going to leave again. Tifa quickly looked at the blond, fear gripping at her heart. She didn't think she could handle Cloud leaving again. A smile formed upon his lips.

"No. No I'm not."

Tifa felt relief wash over her as the boy nodded and quickly dashed off to join the other children.

"Do you mean it?"

The blond swordsman glanced over towards her. He nodded.

"Yeah." He gently took her hand in his, causing a blush of her own to cross the bridge of her nose. She looked down at her hand in his before her brown eyes flickered to his face. "I do." Her eyes widened as he leaned in and gently pressed his lips to hers, and holding them there for a moment before pulling away, hovering near her, their noses barley touching. "I promise."

**Well there you go LatteJazz, here's your Cloti fix. This fanfiction was requested by an anon reviewer who went by Hobbit. **


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